How I paint yellow - part 2

Following on from my previous post on painting yellow here's the second part.

Here's some I finished earlier

Step 5 - Cleaning up after previous errors

Having previously completed the base coat of yellow through the use of Casandora Yellow Shade and Lamenters Yellow Glaze, I then block out the remaining base colours:

Leadbelcher for the metal bits

Paints used:
GW Leadbelcher Base

I'm not wild about GW's replacement for Boltgun Metal. I recently found a couple of pots of Boltgun (including one in a hexagon pot) which I'm jealously hording for special projects. It really does flow and look considerably better than Leadbelcher. However for the purposes of this tutorial I used Leadbelcher (which combined with my general shoddiness explains the poor coverage shown in the picture above).

Step 6 - Shading 101

I then painted the shoulder pad trim in a thinned coat of black paint and also part of the body of the bolter. The various packs and containers around the marine's belt were painted with a thinned coat of Mournfang brown.

Black and Brown

Metal areas were given a covering of Nuln Oil. Finally the lenses of the helmet were given a thin coat of Evil Sunz Scarlet.

Paints Used:
GW Abadon Black Base (thinned with Vallejo thinners)
GW Nuln Oil Shade
GW Mournfang Brown Base
GW Evil Sunz Scarlet

Step 7 - Damage limitation

With the main colours in place and some rudimentary shading added, I introduced the first phase of weathering.

Grey Damage

I used a small piece of foam from a very old Citadel blister pack to apply Stormvermin Fur to the main armour panels and focused on areas which would attract wear or damage (or where I'd been extra rubbish with my brushwork previously)

I also gave the black trim on the armour a second coat to improve colour density.

Paints Used:
GW Stormvermin Fur Layer

Step 8 - Decent into madness

Up to now nothing in this tutorial should come as a surprise, it's all very straight-forward and pretty simple to do. The most complex part is the initial shading using Casandora Yellow.

Now things go a bit weird (you have been warned)

When I first started trying to emulate the amazing work of the Forgeworld team I learnt to use Oil paints and White Spirit to line and shade various parts of tanks. Originally I followed the Forgeworld approach of gloss varnish and then applying a thinned line of Oil Paint to the area I wanted to line. However I discovered that if I used a thin layer of White Spirit / Thinners directly onto the model, I could avoid the need to use a gloss varnish (and could also increase my exposure to poisonous, evil smelling chemicals). However this worked almost as well and also gave some interesting effects.

I've used a similar approach on the Imperial Fist marine here. The main edges of the armour and anywhere I want better definition is coated with a thin layer of Low Odour Thiners (Daler Rowney or similar). They aren't any less hazardous but the smell better). I normally use an old brush for this as it has funny effects on a brush after a while and you can't use the brush for water based paints afterwards I find.

With the model suitably prepared I mix up a batch of thinned Burnt Umber oil paint until I have a liquid which is almost fully opaque but still flows like a liquid. Again using an old brush (but one which still maintains a point, I apply a small amount of the Burnt Umber to the model). As the surface tension of oil paint is considerably lower than a water based paint, the combination of thinned oil paint and thinner covered model causes the paint to be drawn along the detail.

I then do this for all the model until I'm happy with the effect. The model may look a bit weird at this stage - I generally avoid the temptation to apply too much paint and if it flows into places I don't want, I use a cotton bud to remove the excess.

Once the miniature is covered, I then leave it to dry (or if I'm in a hurry apply a hair dryer to it).

Once dry you can see the burnt umber lining on the main armour plates. As it's an oil paint the edge is much more feathered than I can achieve via an Acrylic (better painters than I can do better but I'm lazy). The burnt umber shade seems to work well with yellow too, giving the whole armour a 'lived in' appearance.

I'll try and post some pictures of step 8 in detail next time I'm doing it.